LEADx

The Learning & Development (L&D) field, since its inception, has found itself pigeonholed into a reactive, order-taking role. Dating as far back as the Industrial Revolution and the First World War, organizational L&D functions began to close the skill gaps determined by managers in the manufacturing industry.

Leader and manager development is the number one priority for human resource (HR) leaders for next year, according to the Gartner Top 5 HR Trends and Priorities for 2024 report, based on a survey of 520 HR leaders. According to Mark Whittle, vice president of advisory in the Gartner HR practice, “In 2024, the HR function will be impacted by several key trends: an unsettled employee-employer relationship, persistent skills shortage, transformative technology innovations and pressure to achieve operational efficiencies.”

The 2024 LEADx Leadership Development Benchmark Report just came out. The 23-page report drew on an in-depth survey of 145 companies as well as qualitative interviews with over 50 CPOs and heads of leadership development.

As a company in hyper-growth, Clari has grown from 250 employees (or “Clarians”) to 750 employees in just four years. To learn about Clari’s culture and core values (which include “Jazz Band” and “Dish Assist”), I met with the Chief People Officer (CPO), Laura MacKinnon. She broke down how her team helped scale and sustain company culture as they tripled in size in three years, how they put together their leadership development programs, and much more.

Employee experience might just be the single biggest lever for revenue. Recent research from SalesForce on over 1,000 companies shows that improvements to employee experience can lift revenues by as much as 50%. One of the most significant challenges a company can encounter is how...

Turnover is costly, in terms of both money and culture. Research estimates show that losing an employee costs a company approximately 33% of that employee’s yearly salary.

Leadership development is the lever for a thriving culture. Gallup research indicates that 70% of engagement can be traced back to an employee’s relationship with their manager. At DocuSign, employees actively love their leaders.

To write a great essay, you have to learn to write a great paragraph. To write a great paragraph, you have to learn to write a great sentence. A great company culture is developed the same way: You have to drive culture at each level of the organization, from departments to teams, team members, and individual actions.

Many companies currently face the challenge of scaling and sustaining company culture in a hybrid workplace. To state the obvious, you must adjust your approach. The same approach but in virtual format is not sufficient.